


Beyond Two Souls: It Starts With a Visit

by Cherry_witch



Category: Beyond: Two Souls
Genre: Adult Language, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Choose Your Own Ending, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Minor Character(s), Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Multi-Chapter ending, Multiple Endings, Originally Posted on deviantART, Sad Ending, Susan returns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:48:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2553068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry_witch/pseuds/Cherry_witch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jodie’s abandoned at the DPA and Susan is finding it hard to adjust without her. When Susan realises that Jodie will never be able to leave the DPA due to the risks of Aiden, she is willing to understand Jodie's gift for her to have a memorable and happy childhood but she must deal with Phillip's protests and the increasing violent entity attacks… (On hiatus)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Departure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfiction starts after the "Alone" Chapter in the game.  
> My fanfiction is also on Fanfiction.net.  
> Edit: The reason why this fanfic is on hiatus for a while is because I'm editing all of the chapters then I'll post them once week which should give me more than enough time to make sure my chapters are okay. I don't like how the story is going hence why I'm rewriting it. The updated version will replace this one and It will follow more closely to the game that the fanfic is based off of but in chronological order as it makes more sense rather than jumping around in timeline.
> 
> The updated story will be focused on Jodie's childhood/ teenage years with some of my own stuff mixed in. And the reason why I'm editing all of the chapters is because I'm studying again and studying takes time and so does writing this story.
> 
> that takes up time and I don't want to take so long to put out a chapter. I'll pose the entire story once I'm done or when I'm exactly halfway editing through the story as I know how many chapter's I have. I wanted to start posting the updated story by January 2018 but that obvisouly hasn't happened so realistically I'll most likely be posting by the end of May or early June 2018 hopefully.
> 
> Your welcome to read this older version if you want to until I start to post my updated version.

It was time, Susan fought against it for so long but in the end it had to be done. This wasn't where she wanted to be not without her daughter Jodie. All she ever wanted was to help raise the child she agreed to look after with her husband, nevertheless that time ended abruptly after the "monsters" scarred her special little girl, it all became too much for her husband to handle and so Jodie was dropped off at the Department of Paranormal Activities also known as the DPA. The one thing she was glad for was to leave behind was the place that was once called home.

The distraught woman breathed heavily as she wiped the tears off her face, she knew to move forward would be a hard task for her unlike her husband Phillip who made sure they did not leave anything inside the house on the second floor. Susan couldn't help but glance at the empty house one last time before she decided to open the front door. Thwack. Susan screamed in pain from the unexpected collision of crushed ice, her face stung and her vision blurred. She blindly staggered forward in pain and felt as if she walked straight into a blizzard as she became overwhelmed with hard chunks of ice which messed her blue winter coat and jeans.

"Aww crap its Susan, she could _hex_ us now!" Susan could hear a young girl's voice among the voices of the angry neighbourhood children, she barely managed to see the twelve silhouettes of them in the street.

"Who cares she's a filthy rotten witch, she got what she deserved, that's where Jodie gets it from her mom, witchcraft must run in the family!" she heard a young boy shout among the crowd, his voice couldn't be any more familiar to her, it was Marcus the boy Jodie said who was strangled by her imaginary friend named Aiden.

The large group of kids continued to throw solid snowballs at her until the same girl shout at the crowd yet again. "Stop! What if that _witch_ starts to hex us and our families now?!"

 "Quick run before she tries anything on us!" She heard Marcus shout and saw the kids run in fear as they screamed amongst themselves. _Those horrible kids… how could they plan this for my little girl…_ Tears trickled down Susan's eyes.

As Susan quickly rubbed the snow and tears from her eyes, she managed to gain her sight back in her left eye then noticed her neighbour Roxanne who approached her as if she won a Grammy award for the first time, in her fashionable cream overcoat which fit her slim figure nicely. Susan sighed to herself _Ugh… this day just had to get worse didn't it? I wished she'd fall in the snow…_ she tried to ignore the pain in her body as she retrieved blue hand luggage from the house into the back seat of the car.

As Susan started to rearrange and fit the luggage in the car while her neighbour spoke to her. "I'm surprised you're crying over a little snowball to your face sweetheart, better you than me." She chuckled lightly at Susan's situation. "Well I'm not surprised you're the new talk of the town, it's about time someone dealt with the elephant in the room. It never occurred to me why that little witch of yours was so odd, until I realised she must get it from you." Susan rolled her eyes in the car while her neighbour continued to speak.

"She used her powers to suffocate my _one_ and _only_ child you know! Your kid is always causes a commotion probably trying to hex people she hates but you already know that don't you Susan?" Roxanne asked her neighbour as if she was a mere child.

Susan shut the door calmly and she tried to not show her anger while she pressed her right hand against her right eye but before she could answer Roxanne continued. "I haven't heard from that witch of yours apologising to my little boy, as of yet Susan! It's been what three whole months since that brat of yours should have apologised."

 _Ugh Not this again…_ "Phillip said to your son and husband that Jodie's deeply sorry on the day they came around for an apology, she was just too distressed to apologise on that day." She was very irritated as she spoke.

"That was three months ago, Susan! _Three_ months ago!" She stepped closer to Susan threateningly as she showed her three of her fingers. "Where's! Jodie! _Now?!_ " Roxanne demanded. "I thought at least Phillip would have taken Jodie to apologise to my son in person, but that still hasn't happened yet!"

The two women's conversation interested the neighbourhood kids who hid behind the Holmes' fence. "Look she's still at the hospital she's not feeling too well." Susan tone rose higher in anger as she stepped closer to her rival.

"Now I really do sympathise for your little witch." Roxanne said in a honeyed voice, as she put both her hands on her heart. "Some mother you are! You could of gotten rid of her sickness, you horrid mother."

"Look I have no powers!" Susan pointed to herself "Isn't an apology from Phillip on behalf of Jodie enough? My daughter's not well what more do you want from me Roxanne?!"

"For you to take your hex witchcraft magic, far away where the sun doesn't shine," she said happily as she flicked her long chestnut fringe from her face. "Oh wait, that's already fulfilled today because I can assure you no one wants your _kind_ around here Susan." The woman rolled her eyes. "I'm impressed how Phillip puts up with you two..."

"You’re treading on a thin line Roxanne!" Susan snapped. "Your son trips Jodie, pushes her into other kids, pours juice all over her, spreads horrid rumours about _my_ child and I, he calls her names and he ganged up on me with the other kids to hurt her! Your son doesn't know when to stop and eventually he'll get what he deserves! Jodie just tries to protect herself..."

"Please Darling!" Roxanne laughed. "Though the art of strangling others, that little witch of yours needs to calm down and she even claims that "Ay-den" some invisible force breaks valuable items in people's homes when he's angry and blames it for strangling the kids!" She sighed in annoyance. "The lies that come out of your daughter's mouth is disgusting." _That lying witch honestly!_

Susan quickly wiped the tears in her eyes. "My daughter always tells the truth!" Susan exclaimed, which only made Roxanne laugh, "That son of yours smothered Jodie in snow, she started to suffocate _and_ she could have been blinded by it." Susan pointed at her neighbour. "Marcus and the other kids could have made me blind Roxanne."

"Hence why I didn't miss it for the world," the woman laughed as she wiped tears. "I'll admit my precious little boy does play rough with kids, but not to the point where he'd try to strangle them unlike your little witch spawn sweetheart!" Roxanne stomped in the snow in ire. "I have evidence from the doctor Matthew he said his throat was almost shut! We all know all the strange events lead to your little witch..." She made a quick glance at Susan's fence. "… And don't try anything violent like your witch spawn, we've seen to have drawn a crowd." The red-haired woman said quietly, Susan looked at her fence which caused the children to duck under the fence in fear. "Like everybody else the neighbourhood I'm glad to see your family leave today Susan!" she sneered.

Both women circled one another, the tension between the two were like two leopards ready to fight to the death. "Well one thing's for sure Susan you need to teach her proper manners but of course your bad parenting skills had to be in the way!" she shoved Susan's shoulders slightly. "With the exception of Phillip..." she whispered.

"Don't you dare talk about Phillip or my parenting skills Roxanne!" Susan's voice rose as she shoved her neighbour's shoulders. "You have no right to talk about how I raise _my_ child, she's at the hospital I can't just bring her here now!" Susan exclaimed.

"I expected more from you Susan." Roxanne said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "You probably could summon her with those witchcraft powers of yours with ease." Roxanne gestured both of her hands in the air. "I'm glad to see that's karma has got the best of you darling, my poor baby's still finding it hard to breathe sometimes he could have been killed by that witch you call a daughter, some mother you are!"

"Well he's _alive_ isn't he?!" Susan glared at neighbour and pointed in the direction on the fence unaware she pointed directly at Marcus which made him and the other kids shudder in fear. "Stop acting like he's in serious pain, he can walk and run and be by your side!" the brown haired woman gave a cold chilling stare at Marcus and the kids over the fence who fled in fear.

"Honestly Susan you must be a sorceress, causing those kids to flee without a word. It seems that you clearly can't cope with your little witch demon, it must run in the family-"

" _Leave! Roxanne! Now!_ " Susan commanded as she slammed her hands on the roof, which triggered the loud car alarm to go off and the glare Susan gave to Roxanne sent chills her spine and she didn't even flinch from the alarm.

 _Shoot! This witch might actually hex me…_ Roxanne thought. Susan's stare worried and alarmed Roxanne so much, she swore she would kill her through some unexplained cause.

Despite their hatred toward one another like most people Roxanne had always seen Susan cheerful but it was the first time she saw her truly enraged and it terrified her. Without another word Roxanne abruptly left and ended skidded in the slippery snow, she dared not to look back in fear of her neighbour's wrath.

"Argh! Shoot my eye!" The brown haired woman shut her right eye tight, as she leaned her body over the car in pain, Phillip rushed to Susan from the house as he stopped the car alarm with the car keys.

"Oh no… Susan what happened? Are you alright?" he asked concerned as grabbed her shoulders and glanced at Roxanne who he saw before she slid behind the fence. "What did that woman want now?" Phillip asked as he dusted the snow off his brown coat as Susan turned to face him.

"She wanted Jodie to apologise, to her son in person." Susan said sadly as tears trickled down her face.

"Crap your face is swollen." He whispered as he gently touched her face careful not to touch the swollen parts.

"It’s practically numb now. The neighbourhood kids did this to me Phillip…" She was miserable to make eye contact. "They wanted to hurt Jodie… they wanted to hurt me." They quickly embraced one another. "Phillip that woman never listens, she insisted to hear Jodie's apology, I never knew a woman who could be this rude and annoying." Susan moaned. _And everyone believes there's witchcraft in the family._

"Honestly I never knew Roxanne was so ignorant how many times did that woman come over?" Phillip asked.

"About five times now, ever since Jodie went to the DPA. It's odd how she always comes when you're not around until today." _I'm surprised she didn't bring her friends over this time._

"I can't believe those kids and Roxanne had the nerve to come here on the day were leaving!" Philip brushed his hair back with annoyance. "I'm just glad were leaving for good. I'll get an ice pack for you. Wait in the car I'll drive." her husband sighed in frustration.

"Thank you." Susan sobbed as she went to the front passenger seat.

With the last luggage put in the back of the car Phillip drove slowly down the icy road Susan kept her eyes down as she felt the hostile stares from the neighbourhood children and adults, it made her shiver uncomfortably as she held the blue ice pack to her face. She played around with the radio but it failed to start. _So much for music... I need to get it fixed._

"Don't worry Susan we'll make a clean slate in our brand new home together." Phillip reassured her which made her smile and the two held each other's hands. "Susan how did the car alarm suddenly go off?" he asked his wife.

"I wanted to make Roxanne leave so I did what I wouldn't normally do, I lashed out of the top of the car you know how easy the car alarm goes off, she got me so worked up Phillip she went too far so I gave her the most chilling cold stare I could think of."

"I'm just glad you got rid of her before I did. For a moment there I thought she smacked you in the face." he chuckled. "I'm so sick of hearing everyone's insults to our family."

 _Especially to Jodie..._ "Yeah, me too." Susan replied and felt horrible without her gifted angel as she leaned on the window.

 

 

 


	2. The Unwanted Guilt...

Four months passed by since the Holmes couple moved into their new large open plan house and in that time when the two of them had time off work, Phillip made sure that they spent more time out of their house for them to take their minds of Jodie. He took his wife to a variety of different wineries; canal trips and theatre shows to pass the time although Susan always reminisced the fun times she had with Jodie whenever she saw something Jodie would have liked and every time she saw happy adults with children.

With both adults off from work on a paid holiday for three weeks the couple decided to relax together at home. Susan leaned on Phillip and they both embraced one another as they sat on their green checker couch and watched a romance movie on their television screen in their new large white living room.

"Susan my parents wanted me to visit them over the paid holiday I have." Phillip said.

Susan smiled at him before she answered. "Well maybe you should visit them, you are their eldest son and you've been working so hard and you hardly visit them only on the weekends that I think it's best you do go and spend some quality time with them, with just the three of you."

"Well that number might increase with my aunts, uncles and brothers arriving." He chuckled briefly.

"You do _need_ the break Phillip from being a Software engineer. I'll keep the house in check, I've been visiting them most weekends more often than you have and they do miss you terribly."

"You mean my _mother_ misses me terribly."

"Well… yeah." Susan shrugged.

"She always includes my dad but she still clings onto me too much she still thinks I'm a kid." Phillip scoffed.

"Well she's there for you and that's the most important thing. What day are you going?" she asked.

"This Monday, are you sure you'll be ok on your own?" he looked at his wife with concern.

"I'll make friends in this new neighbourhood Phillip, plus I have my old friends and my family to keep me in check every now and then. The real estate agent did say that this neighbourhood is friendly."

"You can never be too sure Susan. You don't know how paranoid and horrible some people can get." Phillip said in a worried tone of voice which made his wife sigh in annoyance, as she remembered the last argument she had with Roxanne.

 _I wish I never brought up this conversation!_ She thought bitterly. "But Phillip we need to take that chance again. Give these neighbours a chance, we can't forever from them or else we'll never know if there are good people." _And I'll finally be able to call the DPA without feeling worried I need to make sure Jodie's alright._

The couple cuddled closer together on the couch and passionately kissed one another. "Susan this is perfect it's just me, you and-" The sudden knock on the door made Phillip jump slightly. "Doesn't anyone use the doorbell in this neighbourhood?" he asked Susan.

"I guess not." she replied to him.

"I'll get the door." he sighed in aggravation before he gave his wife a quick kiss on the lips before he hurried to get the front door. As soon as Phillip left the room Susan picked up the newspaper on the crème round coffee table in front of her, when she read the date on the newspaper she felt guilt and sadness wash over her like a cold shower.

"Where did the time go?... It's the 14th August already?" she muttered to herself. _What kind of foster mother am I?... Jodie might be strong but Nathan is right… we are the only family she's ever known and it's not like Norah's well enough to look after her daughter… My mother fought tooth and nail to bring everyone to my birthday last year… and they all cheered me up after I felt so upset…_ The brown-haired woman gently put the newspaper down then sighed sadly as stared hopelessly at the television screen. _I feel so selfish… I should have phoned on her 9th birthday when I had the chance… I've been so busy doing double the work as a Web Designer but it's not an excuse…_ Her arms felt sluggish as she grabbed her grey mobile phone from the table and fiddled with it in her hands. She took a deep breath as she looked at her phone again. _Well it's better late than never… I've got to make sure she's alright-_

Phillip tapped Susan's back gently which made her jump.

"Shit, Phillip. Don't do that you scared me." Susan replied quickly.

"I was calling you from the front door but you never came. You looked like you were deep in thought hence why I tapped you. Listen one of our neighbours Richard Captain invited us to his house for an indoor barbeque party."

"Really on a beautiful day like this?"

"I said the exact same thing to him, he said him and his wife spent the entire afternoon cleaning up after their kid's birthday party yesterday which was in their garden. Since today turned out to be a warm sunny day they decided to have an indoor barbecue party to avoid cleaning up after everyone else."

A smile beamed on Susan's face. "Are they our next door neighbours by any chance?"

"No, the people opposite us the barbeque started an hour ago at twelve o'clock."

Susan sprang up from the couch. "We should head on over, we never made any plans to meet our neighbours and this seems like a perfect start."

"Hopefully the food's good and we can bring some home. I haven't been in the mood to cook for ages."

"Same here. I'm glad we won't have to order fast food." Susan agreed as the couple both smiled at one another.

The couple soon got dressed before they headed out to their neighbours' barbeque. Phillip wore a blue shirt and beige trousers and shoes and Susan wore a white and black dip hem dress with white flat shoes to match the top half of her dress. The couple decided to take one vintage rum with them as a gift for their neighbours.

Phillip pressed the buzzer beside the door and they were soon greeted by a very happy short slender woman who had long golden brown hair and tanned skin and hazel eyes. The woman wore a simple long leaf green coloured dress with dark green shoes. "Hello I'm Kimberly Captain! You must be Phillip and Susan Holmes, right?!" she asked the couple.

"Yeah that's us." Susan replied happily as Kimberly shook both of their hands very eagerly which slightly annoyed Phillip. "This is a gift to say thanks for inviting us over." Susan said to her and gave her the alcoholic drink.

"Oh, thank you! You two look magnificent in your clothes!" Kimberley eagerly replied to Susan as laughed happily.

"Thank you." Susan replied cheerfully

"Thanks." Phillip replied cheerfully.

Kimberley looked at gift before she replied "You two must be psychics-"

"Were not psychics." Phillip spoke in a stern voice as he interrupted Kimberly. "We're normal people."

"Stop it please. You're embarrassing me." Susan muttered under her breath.

"Look were not psychics alright." His voice rose slightly higher as he responded both women.

"It's supposed to be a compliment, not a statement!" Susan whispered loudly to Phillip then turned her attention to their neighbour who begun to look slightly worried. "Sorry about that Kimberly… we went through a rough patch in our old neighbourhood and they were-"

"Susan not now, we don't need to bring up the past, she doesn't even know us." Phillip put his hands in his pockets.

"But Phillip-"

'"Please not now." He took a deep breath to ease his stress levels.

Susan felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she turned her attention to their neighbour. "Phillip's not comfortable talking about our old neighbourhood..."

"That's alright Susan. Sometimes it's best not to talk about the past until you're ready to talk about it." Kimberly answered.

"We won't be talking about it with you that's for sure." Philip said under his breath which made Susan bump him slightly.

" _Stop_ being so agitated." Susan whispered in annoyance.

"Well come on in I'm glad you came!" her tone became happier again as she ushered the couple inside and closed the door. "The second course has been dished out and everyone's already tucking in! My husband and I are so _happy_ that you two came!" she squealed in excitement.

"Well we're happy you invited us to your home." Susan said generously.

"Yeah-we-are." Phillip said hastily.

"Well the pleasures _all_ mine!" Kimberly happily replied. "No need to take your shoes off."

Kimberly made sure that the Holmes couple were greeted by the teenagers who played Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the large yellow living room and the Adults who watched wrestling on the widescreen television further down the large open plan house in their sitting room, before she took them to her kitchen. The couple ate the barbequed ribs, salad and beef that was in the kitchen before Phillip was invested in the wresting match on the television, while Susan stayed in the kitchen as she fiddled with her bag.

As much as she wanted to make the phone call, the house was filled with so much noise from everyone with the Adults cheering on their favourite wrestler and the teenagers who failed to beat the computer system on Rainbow Road which made Susan rethink her plan.

Susan spoke to Kimberly who was still in the kitchen and took more food out. "Oh, uh, Kimberly can I go in your backyard to make a quick phone call?"

"Of course you can Susan! The noise pollution in here is terrible, I can't even here myself think." She chuckled happily. "Just take the door that's behind me you'll end up in the conservatory and that door is already opened."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, I'm glad to help!"

The moment Susan stepped outside the large conservatory she felt the warm sun rays on her skin, "This feels nice…" she whispered to herself as she shut the wooden door behind her. She turned around then saw irregular shaped stepping stones that lead straight to a small patio with four wooden lounge chairs. The patio was situated in the middle of a very large swimming pool. The stepping stones branched off into two paths around the swimming pool that both lead to a large purple gazebo at the far end of the garden with round white lounge chairs.

Susan realised how long the garden stretched back all the way to the gazebo so decided to walk straight to the patio which appealed more to her and sat on the fourth lounge chair she came across as it was the only one with a purple cushion. "This garden's amazing." she whispered to herself as she looked around. "Jodie would love being here, she'd probably end up sticking with me the whole time." she chuckled lightly to herself as she wanted to cuddle Jodie at that time.

Susan placed her white shoulder bag on a a small red round table next to the chair so she place her bag on it and took her mobile phone out. She took a deep breath as she felt her hands tremble in uneasiness. _I need to hear her voice one more time, just to make sure everything's alright…_ She felt her hands tense up as she dialled the number of the Department of Paranormal Activities. She clenched her fingers on her clothes as the dial tone lingered for a while, she nervously tapped her fingers on the phone. The nervous woman took a deep breath as she laid down on the chair. _Someone pick up please…._ As soon as the dial tone stopped Susan spoke immediately. "Hello this is Susan Holmes…"

"Oh hey Susan!" Cole replied on the other end of the line in his office. "I'm surprised to hear your voice again after all these months."

"I'm glad to hear your voice again it's been so long!" Susan laughed happily. " How are you?"

"I'm good thanks for asking. It's good to hear from you Susan So how are you and Phillip?" he asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Phillip… well… he's doing fine without Jodie in his life, but there's not a day that goes by where I don't think about Jodie, no matter what anyone says about her. I... I miss her so much… how is she doing?"

"Jodie's coping surprisingly better than I expected. But we all know she misses guys." Cole sipped his coffee.

"How's Nathan doing? Did he tell Jodie the truth about us?"

Cole took a deep breath and the silenced lingered shortly between the two adults before he spoke to her. "He's still trying to cope with the loss of his wife and daughter… they were struck by a drunk driver and they both ended up dying in a car crash-"

Susan trembled before she answered. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She could feel the tears in her eyes. "Can you please send him my- I mean mine and Phillip's condolences please."

"Of course, I will."

"I feel so dam horrible-"

"It's alright you didn't know. To be honest with you even before the accident he never knew when the right time was to tell Jodie about-"

"He shouldn't have to, Phillip and I wanted to adopt her. So we'll tell her. No. Wait. I'll have to tell her myself, I just don't know when that'll be. Look I'll tell her when the time's right." _If Phillip ever tells Jodie he'll break her heart in two…_ "I just wish I told her sooner."

Cole noticed Jodie sluggishly opened the door as she finished with her maths homework. "I'm finished Cole." Jodie mumbled as she felt Aiden tap her back gently to congratulate her. "You're lucky you don't have to do this Aiden." She sulked.

Cole lowers the phone down before he spoke to Jodie. "Jodie guess who's on the phone for you?"

Jodie gasped in excitement. " _Is it Mommy?!_ " as soon as Cole nodded Jodie wasted no time and immediately ran to the phone in her plain pink top and blue trousers and shoes, Aiden floated eagerly next to the phone as he also wanted to hear Susan's voice.

"That's right Princess she wants to speak to you." Cole replied to her and gave the phone.

 _I'd knew she call me Aiden!_ " _Hi Mommy! Can I visit where you live now?!_ " Jodie screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Hi Sweetheart." Susan was relieved to hear Jodie's voice on the other line. "I'm so sorry we missed your birthday sweetheart and we haven't been visiting you lately as we had to move to our new home and which is a pain in the bum by the way and your dad and I were so caught up with our work-"

"Does that mean I can come home now Mommy? Or at least visit like you and daddy promised?"

"Oh Honey…" Susan felt her stomach churn. "Phillip and I… think that would be best for you to stay at the DPA, so Nathan and Cole can look after you." She took a deep breath before she continued. "But I was thinking that from this Monday I'd visit you since Phillip would visit his family for two weeks, so that gives us plenty of time to do some mother and daughter stuff."

" _Really?!_ " both Jodie and Aiden couldn't believe what they heard.

"I promise Sweetheart-"

" _Yay!_ " Jodie jumped up and down. " _I can't wait for you to come over, and Aiden's really happy too_!"

"That's good to hear! Can you give the phone to Cole please Honey."

" _Sure Mommy!_ " Jodie happily gave the phone to Cole before she ran happily to her room with both Aiden right by her side.

"Hey Susan."

"Hey Cole, is Nathan there by any chance?"

"No, he decided to take the day off."

"Oh, is he coping well?"

"Yeah and when he finally came out his office he seemed a lot better."

"That's good to hear. Was it recently he came out of his office?"

"No it was about a month ago. He was in his office for three weeks. I couldn't convince him to leave at all."

"Well, I better get going see you later Cole." Susan wondered why he took so long to reply. "Cole? Cole?" she asked again until she looked at her phone and realised that her phone died. "I charged this new phone before we left today. I need to get a new one…" She mumbled to herself, Susan did not want to be antisocial at the time but she refused to go anywhere with the nice warm sun on her skin, she closed her eyes and made herself comfortable on the cushion. She could finally focus on good thoughts without feeling guilty inside as she planned what she needed to do for Monday. She knew she couldn't utter a single word to anyone about going to the Department of Paranormal ActivatesS until the time was perfect, but all that mattered to her was she could finally see Jodie again.

"Hey." Susan jumped from the unsuspected voice and almost jumped out her seat. "Calm down Susan it's only me." Kimberly giggled as she saw Susan's terrified expression. Kimberly laid back on the orange cushion she found for the chair she sat on.

Susan sighed before she spoke to her neighbour. "I've been lost in my thoughts for a while now."

"Oh that always used to happen to me in school, I never could give a crap about what the teacher said in class." Both women laughed. The two women spent their time outside talking about their experiences at school until the weather started to get chilly they both headed inside. The day went so much quicker for both Susan and Phillip as they stayed later than they wanted to and they both made sure that they had food to take home for the two of them over the weekend for dinner.

Phillip packed his suitcase on the Sunday and as soon as Monday arrived he set off early in the morning to stay with his family. When the yellow taxi was out of sight, Susan headed straight to the flower shop and brought peace lilies and white roses for Nathan and sweets and a birthday card for Jodie, then headed straight to the DPA in her car. As soon as Susan pushed opened the DPA door she was greeted by Jodie who clung onto her while she still held onto her shopping bags, they both felt a huge burden of guilt and sadness lift from their shoulders.

"Mommy Aiden said that you'll come back for me… he was right after all this time." Jodie sadly said "He's sorry for making you upset Mommy he never wanted you to leave him."

"Oh Sweetheart, it's alright I forgive him, it's alright. I'll always visit you when I have the chance and I'll try to visit you on your birthday from now on, I promise!" Susan felt tears trickle down her face and could feel the cold presence of Aiden who lingered near the two as they hugged at the doorway of the DPA entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super Mario Kart and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System belong to Nintendo.


	3. A Reunion

Susan let go of Jodie then looked through her large lilac plastic bags. "Look what I've got for you." she took out a pink envelope and a brightly rainbow coloured sweet packet from one of her large iliac plastic shopping bags.

"Thank you!" Jodie's face lit up with joy as she excitedly grabbed the items from her afterward they hugged again.

"I'm glad you like it!" Susan smiled happily.

"Can I eat the candy now?" she asked excitedly.

"Not until you open your birthday card." Susan said happily. Jodie immediately tore open the card with haste.

"Have a wonderful ninth birthday..." Jodie read the front of the card out loud, the card was light blue and had a simple plain white cake in the middle with two lit candles. She then read the inside. "A hope you have a great time at the DPA Love from Mommy with lots of hugs and kisses!" Jodie smiled happily then thanked and hugged her. Aiden helped her open the sweets packet slightly for her before she ate them eagerly. _Thanks Aiden!_

'You're welcome!' Aiden replied happily.

Susan and Jodie walked down the corridor and saw Nathan and Cole, Nathan wore his in his brown suit with a matching tie and black shoes, Cole wore his DPA lab coat, dark grey, trousers top and black shoes. The adults greeted one another before they continued to walk down the corridor. "Nathan! Cole!" She couldn't help but smile at them. "I'm so happy to see you too… it's been so long." She shook Nathan's hand.

"It's good to see you again!" Nathan replied to Susan.

"It has been a long time." Cole said to Susan, then shook her hand. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah we do." Susan smiled at them. They walked down the corridor where a short blonde woman stood outside of Nathan and Cole's office.

"Hello there." the blonde woman had her attention on Susan while she fixed her DPA lab coat. "You must be Jodie's mother..."

"Susan, Susan Holmes." She outstretched her hand.

"I'm Nicole." She shook her hands firmly. "I see where you daughter gets her cute features from she's got your eyes and nose."

"Thanks." Susan was chuffed when she replied.

"I'm Jodie's maths teacher by the way and I'm glad to say that your little girl excels in maths." Her appraisal made Jodie and Susan proudly smile at one another. "Jodie I know it's been a long time since you've seen your mother but we have to finish off your maths lesson today." Nicole said to her.

"Okay." Jodie lowered her head dejectedly.

Susan knelt down to Jodie's height then said. "Sweetheart, I promise you that were going to have the best time when your lessons are over alright." She smiled at her little girl which in turn made her smile back.

"Alright!" Jodie answered and couldn't help but grin with happiness. She gave her card to Nathan and kept the sweets as Susan allowed her to do so, before Jodie walked with her maths teacher to her lesson while the trio went into the office that was next to Jodie's apartment.

The office was narrow with a large two-way mirror that showed Jodie's apartment next door underneath the two-way mirror was messy desk with a grey computer and lots of papers scattered all over and other large electrical equipment on the desk to watch over Jodie in her room.

"I'm so glad you came back Susan, excuse the mess." Nathan said to Susan as he sorted the paper work on the table before they all got a blue seat to sit down that was near the desk.

"It's alright." Susan replied then glanced around the room it reminded her when Phillip sometimes left the computer in a mess due to tiredness from being a software engineer work.

"We need to talk to you about Aiden's behaviour." Susan heard the sadness in Nathan voice.

"He's not strangling people again is he?" Susan became worried.

"He has." Nathan replied.

"Ugh. I hoped the strangling would have stopped ever since the accident at old neighbourhood." She sighed heavily then placed her hand onto her head. "So… Who did he strangle?"

"A volunteer at the DPA and a few more volunteers in the first few experiments we did, his behaviour got so bad that we had to stop the volunteers altogether." Nathan replied. "When Aiden gets angry he causes a lot damage around the DPA he doesn't listen to Jodie until he's satisfied with the damage he's done. If he doesn't calm down then I fear that Jodie will never be able venture outside and have a normal life… even if we _did_ supervise her. His temper is too much for Jodie to handle."

"I was hoping these attacks would stop… so I could take her somewhere special for her birthday…" Susan rummaged through her bags. "Oh Nathan I almost forgot to give this to you." She rummaged through her plastic bags next took out the peace lilies to give to him. "This is for the passing of your family. "

"Thank you. Helen and Laura loved flowers." He held it briefly and admired the plant before he placed it on a flat part of the desk.

"I know how you feel Nathan." she felt the sorrow wash over her like a horrid cold bath. "Phillip and I lost a child of our own before we thought about adoption."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Both Nathan and Cole said to her concurrently.  
She looked down sadly and decided to change the subject, as she felt herself start to tear up inside. "How do I know if Aiden is listening to me? Can he communicate to you two?" she asked the two men.

"He writes messages to us on mirrors with condensation from his own presence." Cole replied to her. "We do have footage of that." Both men used the monitors to show the footage of the times when Aiden communicated on the one-way mirror and she noticed that at the end of each message had wrote always hand his name at the end.

When Jodie was done with her lessons for the day Susan helped her with her homework studies then they watched the television together although she couldn't help but glance at the cameras in the room ever so often. She told Jodie and Aiden that they needed to be on their best behaviour so they could go to out of the DPA to celebrate Jodie's birthday which they both agreed to. Aiden wondered if Phillip would also go but never bothered to ask anyone. Susan decided to volunteer for the experiment which Nathan and Cole agreed with, she wanted to see the potential of Jodie's powers and hoped that Aiden would have calmed down.

It was late in the afternoon when Nathan, Cole, Susan, Jodie and Aiden went to the experiment room that was further down the hallway from where Jodie's apartment was. Nathan introduced Susan to a lab technician named Greg and explained that Greg was the one who helped him and Cole with Jodie's experiments. Nathan left the adults to talk among themselves as he decided to check up Cole and Jodie who were in front room of the experiment room to make sure everything was alright. Greg eventually lead Susan into a small office which had another door at the end of the room to take her to the other experiment room. As Susan walked behind Greg she noticed a large two-way mirror which could clearly see inside the two experiment rooms. She glanced at the various monitors and stacks of papers which she knew had to be information on Jodie's brainwaves and abilities.

Aiden opened the door for the adults to go into the adjacent experiment room before he shoved a stack of papers onto the floor to block their path from going into the room. 'Ha! That never gets old!' the entity laughed as he watched the startled expressions of the adults jumped from the

 _Aiden stop!_ Jodie furiously demanded though the tether that kept them together.

'I can imagine you pouting at me! That expression of your is super priceless I need to get a camera!' Aiden's shook as he laughed harder as he knew Jodie rolled her as in defeat.

"Well this is a normal part of the routine." Greg mumbled in annoyance to Susan as he looked at the papers on the floor.

"This reminds me of the times when Jodie- threw the stuff on the floor when she couldn't find her drawing of BunnyGruff when she young. I'll get those for you." Susan replied. As soon as she extended her arms for the papers Aiden used his teleknesis to quickly put the scattered papers in a neat pile onto the floor before he gently positioned the stack into her hand, which made her step back in surprise.

"Thank you." Greg replied happily, then eagerly grabbed the papers from her. "I'm glad I don't have to keep any of these papers in a particular pile. Now I'm seeing the benefits of telekinesis now it must be a wonderful gift."

"Well when you know how to control it then it can become something very special." Susan gave him a genuine smile

Greg gave her an inquisitive look. "I bet."

Greg placed the papers to one side before he opened the door for Susan, while she walked inside she noticed that the chair pulled out slightly from the table which made her felt weird to her as Jodie was not present in the room. When she sat down she wondered if Aiden was truly a separate soul from Jodie as she felt the familiar cold presence in the ike she did at their old home.

Nathan made sure that Cole and Greg were ready in the office before he told Susan to begin the experiment. Susan begun to flip over the Zener cards at random on the table in front of her and Jodie matched the correct Zener card her mother flipped over due to Aiden looking over Susan's shoulder. Nathan decided to make things more interesting and told Susan to shuffle her cards and lay them out on the table in then spoke to Jodie in the other room to say which order she placed the Zener cards five time and got every single answer correct out. Susan realised just how cold Aiden's presence was when she saw the condensation emit through her nose as she breathed out and passed her fingers though Aiden's soul several times.

Eventually Aiden had permission to move the building blocks on the table, and so he gently floated the individual blocks around the room. Susan stood up in awe as she slowly spun around to flow the blocks and begun to wonder if Aiden was truly separate soul from Jodie. The display Aiden gave made both Susan and Jodie smile with happiness, the woman outstretched her hands and gently tapped one of the blocks that gracefully flew in mid-air around the room. When the experiment was over and Aiden slowly placed the objects gently on the table in the exact spot they were at to not to frighten Jodie's mother. The scientist were relieved from the success of the experiment and so Nathan decided to buy Jodie ice cream as a reward.

Within the first week Susan always volunteered to be in the experiments, helped Jodie with her homework, played with her and Aiden and even watched her favourite cartoons shows with her. Aiden kept himself occupied most of the time by reading Jodie's books when he felt bored as he didn't want to ruin their reunion. Jodie loved when her mother tucked her into bed and read her a bed time story every night before she left to go home, although Aiden couldn't help but wonder what their new home must have look like. one night after she tucked her daughter into bed, Susan realised Aiden wrote her a note which said:

_Thank you for coming back! – Aiden_

It made her smirk and realised that his name had a silent A which she found odd but sweet.

In the second week Susan continued to volunteer in the experiments her daughter was in, although was Aiden was much more obedient and co-operative he wished he could physically interact with the objects more. The 'monsters' occasionally attacked Jodie most nights and swarmed in larger numbers Aiden was glad they could be defeated without much effort even if they damaged more of Jodie's items in her room. Susan placed the picture of herself, Jodie and Bunny Guff in a wooden picture frame then stored it in her large blue starry box at the bottom of her small walk in wardrobe where she knew Phillip would never look through, although she found it odd that the top of the picture frame was slightly distorted at the top and was puzzled when Jodie kept on saying that it's Aiden.

In the evenings Susan would go to shopping centre and buy a lot of new clothes for Jodie to wear and even brought a few expensive dresses for her, she also brought a vintage pink mug for her mother's birthday that was in few months' time which had 'To The Best Mother in the World!' written on it, that she wrapped it in red wrapping paper and placed it on her wooden bedside table. She decided to place Jodie's new clothes into her large starry box at the bottom of her small walk in wardrobe as she realised the sheer amount of clothes she brought for her, so only gave her a few clothes every other day.

Within the third week Susan always jumped out of her sleep for four nights in a row from a repeated nightmare, where she'd see Jodie and Norah attacked by possessed objects and invisible creatures in a large fancy living room that was encased in bullet proof glass. They shout to her to break the glass but she'd always watch them die horribly unable to save them. Every time she had this dream she always phoned the DPA to check up on foster daughter and she'd always hear the same situation that Jodie was attacked by the 'monsters' at night, so she'd check up on her in the morning to make sure she was ok, before she spent the rest of the day with her friends at her old work base.

Aiden begun to realise that some of the smoke entities would hover around electric sockets and drain the electric current briefly before they directly attacked him, he realised that these smoke entities were slightly more resistant to his telekinetic attacks, but never let that bother him as he always managed to defeat them.

Susan had the same nightmare on the fifth night except she decided to use her leg to break the glass instead and when she did this an audible hum was heard and a huge random crack would appear on the glass cage, she eventually managed to make the glass shatter and set the two free. Susan hugged them both and thanked Aiden, she was relieved that she managed to change the outcome but when she felt the temperature around her drop significantly which she believed to Aiden's presence, as it made her quiver and she felt as if she was dunked in cold water.

"I'm glad you're happy Mrs Holmes." an unrecognisable deep voice chuckled lightly into her ear. "It's pronounced Ay-den not I-den." The voice felt so tangible it made her scream and jump out of her sleep.

"It's just a horrible nightmare." she breathed quickly as she placed her hand onto her head drowsily. "Ugh… why's this room so cold?" the draft in the house was so cold that she literately saw the condensation from her breath. The bedroom lamp flickered brightly in the bedroom which made her shield her eyes.

"Now the lamp needs fixing." Susan glanced at the light before she noticed a piece of lined paper on top of the duvet cover in front of her and the cold draft around her left.

_Thank you for everything, I appreciate what you're doing for Jodie, Mrs Holmes.  
\- Ayden._

Susan looked in confusion the paper. "Oh shit. This can't be possible." she sat up in alert. "Jodie cannot be at our new home. I left her at the DPA." Susan noticed that the entire mirror on the dressing table that was adjacent to the bed had condensation on it as well as a written message. The message was too small for her to read on the bed so she decided to clamber out of bed to read, she felt the same icy presence around the mirror like the presence she felt in her dreams.

_You're right she's not here, she's at the DPA - Ayden_

"How is that possible, when you're here with me? The cord that attaches you both can't travel that long she'll feel pain and discomfort." She asked and felt quite baffled.

The mirror fogged up again and another messaged appeared.

_It's what I'm capable of doing… sometimes… I wanted to make sure you're alright Mrs Holmes. Have any monsters attacked you during the night? - Ayden_

"Of course, I'm alright, I appreciate that you're looking out for me but this you know that only Jodie's the only person in the family who gets attacked at night. So why are you asking me this question? Did they attack the staff at the DPA?"

_No everything's ok at the DPA Mrs Holmes, No one was attacked. - Ayden_

"You don't have to be so formal with me I-den… or should I start calling you Ay-den now?" Susan became slightly confused.

The mirror was covered in condensation before the new message appeared.

_Forget about the pronunciation of my name, it's not that big of an issue…_

"Aiden you need to leave now, what if Jodie gets attacked again now that you're here with me." Susan became worried.

_I know she's alright Susan, I have a telepathic link to her she's 100% ok. The tether tells me so. I'm only around making sure your okay._

"Please Aiden leave… Jodie means the world to me."

_Jodie also means the WORLD to me to Susan! I have to make sure that NONE of those dam MONSTERS ever touch Jodie ALRIGHT! I've been doing my job for 9 long years now and I don't want Jodie to lose you! Are you sure that nothing strange happened while you were in your home tonight?_

"I told you I'm alright!" she placed her hands onto her temples. "Nothing strange has happened in the house other than you arriving here. Why are you so worried about me?"

_I didn't mean to overreact._

"I'm just glad that you didn't throw anything across the room." She glanced around the room. "Aiden, why are trying to contact me now when you could be doing this in the morning? You know Jodie would be safe then!" Her voice rose slightly in anger.

_Fine. I'll leave. just please keep this conversation between you and I don't want anyone to know about all my abilities as I want to keep some things private to myself._

Susan saw the condensation leave the mirror eventually the bedroom light ceased to flicker. Susan slumped back into her bed but could not go to sleep as she was worried about Jodie once more. In the early hours of the morning Susan decided to look at the different places to visit for Jodie's belated birthday on her computer before she decided to the DPA to check up on her, she decided to wear a simple grey top, purple trousers and brown shoes.

As soon as Susan opened Jodie's apartment door she was greeted by the familiar cold presence of Aiden which she didn't mind and Jodie's warm hugs which she loved dearly. "How does going to the science museum sound for your birthday?"

"We get to go to the science museum?!" Jodie replied in shock.

"Yeah, it'll just be the two of us so we can spend some quality time together." Susan said.

"And Aiden." Jodie pointed above her where she sensed her otherworldly companion.

"Yeah." She smiled at Jodie. "And Aiden… he doesn't mind being called Ay-den does he?"

"Not really," Jodie shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't bother him that much, why did you want to know?"

"Just wondering..." Susan's mind trailed off when she thought about the night Aiden visited her. "Your father can't take any time off work but he doesn't mind if we go to the museum together."

Jodie smiled happily as she heard Aiden's cheer with joy. Susan even gave Jodie permission for her to stay up an hour later for her good behaviour in her classes and experiments which both Nathan and Cole agreed to. Susan said her final goodbyes to everyone before she headed out the office. Aiden decided to hover by Susan's side and keep her company.

"Ugh! Come on!" Greg shouted at the grey vending machine in the corridor.

"What's wrong?" Susan walked to his side next to the vending machine.

"It took my money and never gave me my water bottle and as always no one has any change to spare." he doubled checked his white lab coat then his grey trousers for change. "You don't happen to have any spare change on you?" he pleaded.

"Sorry." She shook her head.

"Great now what can I do?" he leaned closer to study the water bottle.

Susan looked around and noticed they were the only two people in the corridor. "Hmm, have you tried banging on it?" she rest her knuckles on her chin as she inspected the machine closer and noticed that the bottle was on the top row stuck at a 45 degree angle.

"Trust me banging it won't do any good, I've tried it almost every time this situation happens." He looked nervously at her. "Look Susan I-I don't want to come across as being rude… but could you use your-"

Bang! The water bottle sprung upwards inside the vending machine afterward landed with a loud thump at the bottom which made the adults jump in surprise.

"Whoa." Susan whispered to herself while Greg rushed to collect his water bottle.

"Susan that was incredible!" a smile beamed on his face. "I'm not surprised that Jodie takes after you..."  
"That wasn't me…" she cut him off quickly. They felt the temperature drop around them and could see the condensation emit from their breath. "It was Aiden this whole time."

"Oh…" he placed his hand to his head in embarrassment. "Err… I'm so sorry I-I thought you were gifted… I swear… I didn't mean to offend you." He looked around nervously. "It's just that in the experiment room a-a-and your daughter…" he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"It's alright you didn't know, Jodie's the only person who has a gift in the family she probably got her powers from my great-great grandparents or something." She sighed unhappily and looked down. Aiden moved himself to the vending machine when he realised the adults started to shiver slightly.

"Oh… that's unfortunate." He replied sadly.

"It is… it just would have been nice if Jodie could relate to another member in her family..." Susan muttered loudly.

"Like you? I-I mean if you had telekinesis or telepathy." He suggested.

"Yeah…" Susan shook her head slowly as she remembered the fun time she had with Norah when she was pregnant with Jodie. She remembered when Norah use her telekinetic skills to give her a drink at the DPA. _I wish you were stable Norah..._ Susan quickly wiped her eyes to stop the tears.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah I'm fine." she briefly smiled at him. "I was just thinking what life could have been like if I _had_ powers."

"Personally, I don't think that there's anything wrong with having a gift or having multiple gifts in Jodie's case. It would bring you too closer together."

"Yeah your right." she couldn't help but smile as she thought of the idea of being able to push heavy objects with Norah and Jodie.  
"If I had a gift I'd like to fly so I wouldn't have to deal with traffic and I be stealing the food from the vending machine every day if I had telekinesis." He laughed jokingly.

"Yeah me too." Susan joined in and they both laughed.

"I'm glad you came back in your daughter's life she needs you more than ever and you even managed to calm Aiden down in the experiments." Greg said. "."

"Thanks Greg." Susan's laughed happily. "You're not the first person who thought I had powers. In our old neighbourhood, everyone believed that Jodie inherited her gift from me they said such horrible words to me. The kids couldn't care less if they threw the hard snowballs at me or Jodie. It hurt like hell, my face became swollen..."

Aiden's anger emitted a small wave of telekinetic energy that made the lights flicker aggressively. 'They won't hurt you again, I'll make sure of it Susan!'

Susan looked around nervously in the room, she glanced at the lights fear then took a couple of steps backwards, Greg's posture became more alert and placed his hands on her shoulders and looked calmly at her. "Look at me Susan, everything will be alright just stay calm, Aiden's just angry, I just hope that objects won't fly about." he reassured her, she calmed down slightly when she looked at him. "Those people seem ignorant and scared, so it seems that they treat anyone different like outcasts." shortly the lights went back to normal.

"I guess you're right." she whispered uneasily, she couldn't help but glance around the room again. "The flickering lights don't alarm you?" Susan asked in surprise.

"Not anymore it's a normal part of the routine ever since the first experiment Jodie and Aiden did, Aiden's managed to scare all the volunteers so far there's not one volunteer he hasn't either traumatised or scared but you must already know that, if it bothered me I would have left a year ago and worked elsewhere."

"At least your use It." she said.

"We all are." he chuckled lightly. "Thanks… for the drink Aiden." He sounded unsure when he spoke and looked around the room and wondered if Aiden was still in the room or not before he gave Susan and inquisitive and curious look before he smiled at her. _I swear you had powers… I feel so stupid..._

Aiden hovered above the adults and watched Susan smiled back at him before they made their way to the blue DPA doors. Greg held the door opened the door for Susan to pass. "Here you go, sorry about what I said earlier."

"No need to apologise…" she smiled at him. "I should be holding the door for you, I've been on a paid holiday for three weeks!"

"Luckily you!" Greg said in encouragement "Don't worry about it, it's just a door."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Aiden watched them exit the DPA doors before he returned to Jodie who was in her pink pyjamas on her sofa with Bunny Gruff on her lap. 'I can't wait to go to the science museum with mommy, Aiden!' Jodie happily thought.

'Yeah me too!' Aiden laughed excitedly to Jodie.

Susan spent the whole Friday afternoon and Saturday with her old work colleagues they went to spa's, to local restaurants and discos. On the Sunday she decided to shop late in the afternoon for clothes then to the local supermarket before she drove back home, she felt somewhat sad to go back to work on the Monday. Phillip called out for Susan from the yellow taxi cab that was parked outside the front of their house.

The couple greeted one another as they were reunited once more, as soon as they were inside the house they placed their belongings into the living room by the couch before Phillip lovingly whisked Susan into his arms and took her upstairs.

"Oh Phillip your full of surprises!" She laughed happily as she wrapped her arms around him eagerly. "So how's your family?" she asked eagerly.  
"They all doing great! My mother felt a whole lot better ever since I arrived." He replied

"That's good to hear!" she snuggled closer to him.

"How did you spend your holiday?" he kissed her on her forehead.

"Oh it's been wonderful Phillip, I've been out with Kimberly, and she showed me a good places to get decent alcohol prices and places to eat not too far from where we live to get good deals on food. I spent most of my time to catch up with my old friends at the old base we'd used to work at."

Phillip switched on the light and the happy reunion immediately ceased, they felt like deer caught in floodlights. Clothes were piled on their bed and scattered all over the floor, the lamps by both sides of the bed were shattered and broken, their books and shoes were dotted all over the floor, their dresser and wardrobes were opened with some clothes still inside. Phillip noticed that his work papers were also scattered on their bed.

"Oh my god." Susan whispered to herself as Philip gently put her down.

"We've been burgled." Phillip muttered under his breath as he immediately gathered his work papers from the bed. Fear rushed through Susan's veins like an ice-cold shower, she sprung straight toward her blue starry box in her small walk in wardrobe like a cheetah to its prey and hastily opened it.


	4. An Unexpected Visitor

Susan eyes widened in fear as she saw the box in front of her was completely empty. "What? No!" she panicked quietly to herself, her heart leapt wildly in fear like a rabbit caught between a wired fence. She knew she had to move quickly before it was too late, her arms flailed madly as she rummaged through the pile clothes on the floor in her walk-in wardrobe.

Phillip grabbed his work sheets from the bed and noticed the back of a small wooden picture frame from under his stack of papers when he spun the frame around his eyes widen in disbelief, as he saw the true horror in front of him. It was a picture of Susan hugging Jodie in the corridors at the Department of Paranormal activities. He saw Jodie hugged her favourite toy Bunny Gruff in her arm as she hugged Susan with her free arm. He observed that the top part of the picture was slightly distorted and blurred.

The amount of adrenaline that built up in Phillip's body caused him to snap the picture frame in half. Thwack! He flung the broken pieces against the wall, one half rebounded off the wall toward the door whereas the other half almost struck his wife's face.

"Phillip you could have _blinded_ me!" Susan shielded her face from the projectile.

"You hid all this _crap_ from me and expect me to be _alright_ with this?!" Phillip threw their clothes onto the floor and found a pink mug situated in between the pile of clothes on the bed that had 'To The Best Mother in the World!' written on it which shocked him. "You've been visiting that _Demon_ behind my back, haven't you?!" Phillip asked Susan as he showed her the pink mug.

"Phillip calm down. That was a gift-" Susan went straight to take the present off him while she spoke but he swiftly flung the mug against the wall above the television.

" _No!_ " was all Susan could shout out as she watched her mother's present shatter into pieces. " _I was going to give that to my mother!_ " she felt tears form in her eyes.

"The break in I can deal with, but _not_ this!" he tossed their clothes from the bed only to find a small frilly red dress which he believed belong to Jodie.

"Are you even _listening_ to me?!" she gestured her arms upwards. "Let _me_ explain!" Susan pleaded to him.

" _Explain what?!_ _The evidence_ _is_ _everywhere!_ " he gestured his hands toward the small dresses in frustration.

"I-"

"What possessed you to visit that _Monster?_ After _everything_ we've been through?!"

"She's just a lost little _girl_ , she needs _me!_ " Susan snatched Jodie's frilly dress from the bed and clung onto it dearly.

"That's _no_ lost little girl Susan!" he tried to yank the material off her but she gripped onto the dress tighter with all her might, their faces where literally inches from one another. "That's an uncontrollable _monster!_ That Thing strangled a _child_ Susan, a defenceless child!"

"Jodie couldn't breathe when, Marcus smothered her in snow!" Susan pulled the fabric with all her strength but Phillip stood his ground and pulled the fabric towards himself.

"Stop defending that _evil_ child!" The dress was torn between the couple they both almost lost their balance from the array of clothes on the floor. "She dam well knew she was _not_ supposed to leave the yard!" he shouted as he threw the torn dress on the pile of clothes as it was garbage, then looked at his wife as if he didn't recognize her. "We have no _dam_ clue what that _Demon_ is truly capable of and _you_ decide to stroll back into the DPA like nothing happened!" he pointed to her. "Are you _completely_ insane?!" he kicked his clothes in front of him only to find more of Jodie's clothes at the bottom of the pile. "You have to be joking?!"

"I'm _not_ insane!" Susan was mortified that her money was lost on Jodie's expensive yet fragile dress and her mother's mug so grabbed both parts of the torn dress to place it into her wardrobe.

"That Thing will _strangle_ you Susan!" he watched his wife with disgust. "If not now then-"

"She _never_ will Phillip!" she replied as she sorted the torn dress in her wardrobe.

"That Thing is uncontrollable!" he yelled.

"I wanted to make sure she was coping at the DPA!" she slammed her wardrobe afterward pushed the disorganized clothes to one side on their bed before she sat down with her head in her hands.

Phillip shivered immediately when he felt a familiar cold draft in their room and saw condensation emit from his mouth briefly which was one of the many reasons why he was glad to leave their old home, except the cold draft in their new home felt even more icy and unwelcoming, he noticed that the light in the room flickered briefly and the door move swung slightly as if someone was about to enter the room but then decided not to, which made him felt uneasy so exited the room quickly.

Susan felt like a wilted flower as she put all of Jodie's clothes that she saw into her wardrobe as fast as possible, she noticed that a large piece of the red wrapping paper she used to wrap her mother's gift was stuck on Jodie's clothes in the wardrobe so placed it inside her back pocket to put in the bin later. She called her husband's name as she swiftly went down the stairs then into the living room, she realised that everything downstairs was completely untouched just the way she left it before she headed into the kitchen where Phillip leaned his back onto the blue kitchen island.

The glare that he gave her sent chills down her spine. "Susan you're _not_ that child's mother! She would eventually hurt with her powers!" Phillip said in disgust.

"Stop saying that about her!" Susan replied in anger.

He slammed his fists on the kitchen island. "When were you going to tell me about this situation?! Next _week_ , next _month?!_ " he leaned his back on the green counter.

"I was going to tell you when the time was right!" Susan stood next to the kitchen island.

"So, when did you make the visit?" Phillip asked as he folded his arms and stared at Susan as if she committed a felony.

The white kitchen clock ticked loudly in the couple's ears, as he waited for an answer. "Three weeks ago." Susan dejectedly muttered under her breath.

Phillip could not believe what he heard. "You used your paid holiday… to visit her?! I thought we both moved on with our lives, but you clearly haven't!" Phillip paced around the kitchen. "I don't understand. We have wonderful neighbours, we can finally have a good night sleep without worrying if those _things_ would attack her at _night,_ or when her imaginary friend keeps her up by moving stuff in her room. And we even don't have to put up with her lies anymore about blaming some stupid invisible force that doesn't exist! I just can't understand why _you_ would want to visit that little girl! I'm _not_ ready to lose you-"

"You won't _lose me_ Phillip!" Susan held Phillip's clenched hands. "I'm _still here_ aren't I?!" she smiled at him briefly. "When you told her we had to transfer to another base and leave her at the DPA, I felt absolutely bad for abandoning her…"

"Stop this nonsense alright. Stop putting the _blame_ on me Susan!" he flicked his hands away from his wife and paced quickly to the opposite side of the kitchen where the sink was. "We _all_ agreed that Jodie should live the DPA!"

"You know you it wasn't _everyone's_ decision!" Susan clenched her hands and felt her heart race.

"Fine. Your right that since it was _our_ decision!" Phillip sighed in anger as he rub his temples with his hand.

" _It was_ _yours!_ " Susan blurted out before she quickly covered her mouth when she realized what she said to him.

The silence defended between the couple. Phillip was wide eyed and speechless he couldn't believe what he just heard, Susan took a deep breath before she spoke. "I… I-I was so distraught at the time I couldn't think straight, so I was so torn between abandoning her and trying to help her that I decided to go with your idea and leave her at the DPA…." She leaned forward on the kitchen island as she looked at her husband in sorrow. "When we moved to our new home I started to feel _so_ guilty about leaving Jodie behind… that I _had_ to visit her... so many things were reminding me of her Phillip, I kept on thinking about the things that she would miss out on." she sighed sadly. "I kept on thinking about how would Norah feel about us abandoning her as well."

The drops of water in the sink echoed in the kitchen while the clock continued to tick loudly. Phillip slammed his fists on the counter there were so many things he wanted to say to her but decided to focus on his breathing to calm himself down. "You know what the depressing fact thing about this situation is? If Jodie strangled me at the DPA before we left we wouldn't be in this mess, I guarantee that-"

"Why the hell would you say such a horrible thing?!" she stares at her husband in disbelief, which only made her husband sigh in anger. The silence pondered and ached between the two of them. "She'd never-"

" _Because it's the only evidence that would convince you to stay away from her!_ Every _single_ time Jodie hears something that she doesn't like she ends up hurting someone or destroying the house and then blaming it on her stupid imaginary friend, she always _lies_ Susan! She probably wanted to strangle the life out of me when I told her she'd stay with Nathan and Cole at the DPA because she didn't get what she wanted. But you just _had_ to go back to her as if she's a saint and did nothing wrong!"

"She can't control her powers alright and I don't care that she's not ours! We agreed to look after her!" she placed her hands onto her heart.

"Yes, we agreed to look after a little girl with powers." he shook his head. "But not an uncontrollable monster!" he shouted to her.

"She listens to me!" she pointed to herself with pride.

"For how long?! That Monster's powers could develop as it grows older and I am not ready for you to wind up crazy or dead, it's just too dangerous!" Phillip went to Susan and held her hands briefly.

"But don't you think Nathan's right she's our only family she has, she needs _us._ " Susan followed him into the sitting room where he started to dial a number on the house phone, he felt the same icy cold draft in the house again. "Her father died for goodness sake. Try and put yourself in his shoes."

"Even if she was our daughter, I wouldn't have changed my opinion of her."

"Who are calling?" she asked.

"The DPA." he shivered slightly from the icy draft around his body.

"Nathan already told Jodie." Susan reassured Phillip and kept a calm demeanour.

"You lied to me for three weeks and expect me to just _suddenly_ believe that Nathan already told Jodie!" Phillip saw right through Susan and hated every second of it. "You've changed… where's the woman that I once knew?" he shook his head slowly. "We could have started to think about having a normal family together again!" he rubbed his shoulders to stay warm as the constant draft lingered around him.

"We _still_ can." Susan smiled at Phillip afterward slowly approached him, she tried to gently grab the phone off him but it only made him tighten his grip on the phone. "We can start a family again and then Jodie cam have a sibling to play with."

"Absolutely not. As long as you visit her I wouldn't let any of our future children near Jodie it's just too dangerous." Phillip said coldly.

"Give me the phone Phillip!" Susan swiftly tried to grab the phone off Phillip but he pushed her shoulders back.

"If Nathan already told her why are you trying to take the phone off me?!" he asked.

"Because you'd be shouting at him for _no_ reason!" Susan hated to lie but she had no choice but to, she knew that if he found the truth from Nathan over the phone Jodie's heart would be shattered into pieces. She'd knew he'd tell her about her real birth parents in the bluntest way possible and she didn't want to ponder about how their marriage would turn out by the end of the phone call.

"Well I'll take that chance!" Phillip needed to find out the truth for himself and felt strongly that Susan either lied to him or didn't have a strong enough will to ask Nathan.

Susan tried again with all her might to take the phone off him, but could not get him to loosen his grip, when the dial tone ended she gave up and placed both hands on her head and wondered what to do in the situation.

"She deserves a _lot_ better than you." Phillip heard a deep masculine voice on the other end of the phone line.

"Who is this?" he walked toward the green checker couch in their living room. Susan was so focused on her thoughts that she was not in tuned with the phone conversation when she realized that Phillip has his back turned to the phone she hastily knelt down to disconnect then reconnect the phone line. She sighed heavily before she went toward Phillip, and decided to wait for him to put the phone down.

Phillip heard static on the phone line briefly. "Oh, I'd _love_ to tell you…" the voice on the end of the phone line replied as if the disconnection never arose, it made his wife shiver with dread, she realised that it was the same voice she heard in her nightmare and the same icy cold presence she felt the night that Aiden visited her, this made the hairs on the back of her neck stood up she feared that the house was haunted by Aiden's wrath. "but quite frankly my name is no concern to you."

"Look I must have dialled the wrong number." Phillip replied quickly in annoyance, his wife edged slowly toward him, she wondered if Aiden gained the ability to talk she was too astonished to speak, while Phillip who looked in the opposite direction of her.

"Typical for you to say that isn't?" The voice said in a bitter tone. "Don't you _ever_ call her such horrible names, she means the _world_ to me." the voice was sterner.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Phillip asked.

"You know _exactly_ who I'm talking about."

"Look you've got me confused with someone else." He said quickly before looked at Susan who looked pale and terrified, he lowered the phone not too far from his face. "This is a stupid prank call." He muttered quietly to her.

"You think this is a prank call?! You think I'm confused?! You think I'm _flipping_ deaf Mr. Holmes or should I call you Phillip?!" the voice scoffed at him which made the terrified man drop the phone in fear and the lingering cold draft around him became much worse. As the phone hit the wooden floor all the electrical appliances around the house came on. The television in the living room flicked rapidly through television channels at an astonishing rate, all the lights flickered so wildly so brightly that all the bulbs cracked in the house and caused huge sparks. The couple went close to one another as they were bewildered from the eerie light display.

" _Your_ _keeping this Demon here aren't you?!_ " Phillip yelled at Susan as the couple both shielded themselves from the blown bulbs above them.

"She's at the DPA! I swear!" Susan screamed back, the couple felt their stomachs churn in fear.

" _I'm sick of all these lies Susan! I'm done with this!_ " Phillip's voice never sounded so cold, he grabbed his house keys from the table afterward he bolted out of the house, Susan felt a cold invisible force struck her from behind and made her fall onto the floor. She heard a crackling noise behind her when she looked back she saw the electric appliances from within the house disperse electricity which gathered into an electric ball a few feet in front her face.

The petrified woman cried out for help, she tried to run out the house only for another cold force to pin her down to the wooden floor. Without warning a purple silhouette of a hooded figure materialized in front of her that emitted a low audible hum, it flickered wildly and brightly like an incandescent flame in the wind. The sudden presence of the silhouette made the electric orb move back slightly and the electric appliances stopped dispersing electricity.

The silhouette towered over the terrified woman and made her felt so helpless she was glad that silhouette had its attention on the compressed element. When it walked forward it left purple fluorescent shoeprints on the wooden floor until it was a few feet from the elemental orb, the silhouette flicked its hands quickly and emitted a bright purple shockwave toward the element that made the element disintegrate upon impact.

Susan scrambled toward the front door before the silhouette turned its attention to her again. The front door opened as soon as she approached it and when she stepped outside she felt an icy cold presence linger around her for a few seconds before the front door closed behind her and the presence was gone.

She bolted toward the door and struggled to put her seat belt on as she wondered if Jodie's powers were more out of control than she imagined and did not want to ponder if Aiden decided to target herself now that he already spoke to her husband. She needed answers immediately and the only place she knew where she was guaranteed to get results without herself being called crazy was at the DPA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm editing the later chapters hence why the later chapters have been deleted for now and the same reason why this fanfic is on hiatus as I think this fanfic desperately needs a change in some of the chapters.


	5. Panic-Stricken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thank you for the favs readers, I'm so happy! I glad I finally got to put this chapter out! My fanfiction will have swearing and violence from this chapter it’s a just a warning but it won’t be in all the chapters mind you. My fanfiction does follow the events of the game when you put it in chronological order it's just that the game doesn't really focus on her childhood in my fanfiction, so yes I will write the chapters from the game in the future like "The Party", "Like Other Girls" and "The Condenser" Chapters it's just that I have many ideas I like to put forward into my AU fanfiction. I hope you readers enjoy this chapter!

 

Susan started her car in a quick succession and immediately took off from the driveway, she drove her car at full throttle down the road and she easily managed to overtake the slower vehicles in front of her with ease. She noticed the speed cameras she drove by became severely crushed when she drove past them which terrified herself.

With the DPA barrier gate in her sights she braced her back into her seat before abruptly slammed her foot onto the brakes. Her vehicle skidded with so much force she was shocked that her car abruptly halted before it reached it the barrier which consequently made her brusquely jerk forward.

"Argh! Shit!" she cursed out loud to herself.

"Are you alright Ma'am?" the lights skinned male security guard in the booth hurried to Susan's side.

" _Do I look alright to you?!_ " she gave the man a harsh look as she pointed to her face to emphasis her point. _“I have whiplash! Crap!”_

“Good point.” He replied in a monotone voice then shrugged. As if on cue the lights inside the DPA booth flickered rapidly which made Susan brace her back against her seat in fear as the guard grumbled incoherently to himself as the light display went off inside. “Ugh. Not this crap again.”

The stress woman held the back of her neck with both hands as she leaned forward in pain. She eventually started to rummage through her disordered glove box that was mostly filled with tissue boxes and messy stacks of paper. She flung all the unnecessary contents onto the floor until she eventually retrieved her DPA visitor key card to show him.

"Thank you, Ma’am, that's fine." He glanced quickly at her pass which she then placed it into her front trouser pocket. "It's just that there's always a doctor on site who would be able to help you." he side while he fixed his blue uniform and tidy his dark brown hair.

"I already _know_ this information,” she spoke in a bitter tone. “but _thank you_ for _reminding me_ …"

"Richard." The DPA guard smiled at her.

"Ah. Richard." she gritted her teeth and desperately wanted to barrier gate to open. _Same name as my ex. Great._ She thought sarcastically.

His eye's widened in bewilderment when he observed the bonnet of her car which had a huge dent. "Jesus!" Richard gripped his shoulder length hair in astonishment.

"Oh for fuck's _sake_ what now?" she muttered under her breath, she rubbed her neck and shoulder blades.

"You should get your car looked at it's in a _real_ bad shape." Richard turned around afterward he jogged quickly back into the booth and allowed the barrier gate to be lifted.

Susan gave Richard a thumbs up before she sped into the car park. Her vehicle screeched to a sudden halt when she found the closest parking space available to her. She flung the red wrapping paper she had in her back pocket in the direction of the back-passenger seats before she exited her car and locked it with her keys. The frantic woman took several steps backwards and stepped into a large puddle which made her black socks and the bottom parts of her purple trousers wet. " _Oh, come on!_ " she clung onto her grey t-shirt as she ran out of the puddle and dashed towards the Department of Paranormal Activities.

She completely ignored the female receptionist's warm greeting and immediately swiped her visitor key card onto the adjacent door of the entrance, which lead to a large white corridor where she soon found Cole's office.

Thud! Susan instinctively used the upper part of her body weight to shove the door open at full force which made Nathan and Cole jump and look in the direction of the door.

"Susan?" Nathan said in disbelief and got up from his chair. "What in the _world_ happened to you?" the scientist rushed to the distressed woman's side, placed his hands on her shoulders and ushered her to sit on the black chair that was situated against the wall that was next to the desk in the office and the wooden door which lead to Jodie's apartment.

"Where's your shoes Susan?" Cole asked while he dragged two blue swivel chairs by the desk closer to Susan so both Nathan and himself could sit down.

"Aiden. That's what happened." Susan's tone became livid and she wore a serious look on her face. She looked around the air and wondered where Aiden was before she turned her attention to the men who both glanced at each other each with a worried look on their face. "He's… he's… been lying to us all." she buried her face into her hands and felt her stomach and throat hurt with pain and sadness she tried to hold and eventually she cried silently so Cole gave her his fresh clean packet of tissues from his uniform. "Thanks Cole," her voice was hoarse as she weakly smiled at him "He's be lying to me all this time." Nathan was about to speak until Susan continued. "I-I know it sounds crazy, b-but please listen to me before you ask any questions." She continued to wipe her eyes.

"Take your time we're here." Nathan said in concern.

"Yeah." Cole replied.

The frantic woman begun to reminisce on all the supernatural and strange events she witnessed, from the night she found a note left by Aiden on her bed until she arrived in the DPA car park. Susan believed all the supernatural events she witnessed was due to Aiden. The panicked mother made sure she left out the true reason why she had an argument with her husband before she travelled to the DPA.

Susan dreaded the silence that lingered awkwardly in the room and tapped her fingers on her legs to calm her mood, she had a gut feeling that they were all going to be in a very dire situation indeed. _Say something please._

Cole took a deep breath and Nathan gave her a grave look before he spoke, “Cole and I _know_ for a fact that Aiden isn't capable of those feats from the experiments we’ve conducted. You know as well as we do Susan that if he travels more than a few feet away from your daughter she experiences serious amounts of pain and would most likely end up blacking out. Which thankfully hasn’t happened yet.”

 “You both think _I’m lying?_ ” she frowned at the two men. “ _Aiden-_ ”

“No. I’m just worried that whoever is impersonating Aiden we have to contact the CIA for this and you should contact Phillip he might be in danger.”

“It’s _that_ serious?”

Cole leaned forward in the chair before he spoke. "Yes. I know there’s been news reports about a man with multiple gifts who’s on the run for a few years now. They don’t really show him much on tv now. But he has been stealing from people’s houses ever so often. One of the gifts he has is astral projection and is able to interact with the world around while in that form." Cole's tone was serious.

“So, he can steal stuff without being seen great.” Susan mumbled sarcastically.

"Unless that person has mediumship they’ll know he’s arriving." Cole rubbed his temples as he thought of what to say next. “For you to have seen him at your house, he must have used a telekinetic shield around his soul for you to see him. I’ve never seen anyone with astral projection use telekinetic barriers before.”

"How would the CIA help exactly? And what’s the name of this guy I want to see him behind bars?" Susan asked.

Nathan scratched his scalp before he replied. "We should discuss who this person could be in my office as for the CIA they should be able to help you since the-" Nathan was cut off when Jodie's apartment door swung open and hit the wall immediately embraced her agitated mother.

"Mommy?" Jodie asked with excitement and charged into the entered the room and went to hug her mother in her plain pink pyjamas with BunnyGuff in her hand.

"Hey Sweetheart." Susan gave Jodie a long hug back while she rubbed her child’s short brown hair briefly. She felt the familiar cold presence of Aiden before she felt the pain in her neck and shoulder blades ease up slightly.

'I did what I could Jodie.' Aiden was pleased with himself as he saw Susan’s aura turn from green back to its original blue colour. He hovered into the air until he saw everyone clearly in the office.

 _Thanks Aiden!_ Jodie smiled to herself. “Mommy why are you wet? Did you jump in a puddle with no shoes on?”

"Jodie w-what are you doing up this late? It's half past ten now." Cole said.

"Aiden woke me up after he saw how Mommy looked, he knew she wasn't well so he woke me up so he could heal her." She said to Cole then turned her attention to her mother and looked puzzled at her wet clothes.

"It's a _long_ story Sweetheart." Susan sighed deeply, Nathan and Cole shook they’re in agreement.

Cole got up from his chair and tapped Jodie's shoulder "Let me tuck you in bed Princess your mother has been through a lot tonight."

Jodie quickly gave her mother her pink toy rabbit. "BunnyGruff helps me stay safe so you should keep her for now Mommy."

"Aw. Thanks." Susan gently kissed Jodie's forehead next grabbed BunnyGruff and positioned her to face forward on her lap before she watched her little watched her little girl enter back into her apartment with Cole.

Nathan went to the doorway that lead to Jodie's apartment. "Cole will be in my office to make a few phone calls." Cole nodded in reply. Nathan took Susan outside of Cole's office and into the corridor. "I think it's best to phone the CIA in my office, I wouldn't want to Jodie to be able to hear any of this through Aiden."

"Alright. Lead the way." Susan clutched onto the stuffed rabbit tighter.

Jodie laid down on her bed which felt like hours for her after Cole told her everything would work out soon and Aiden told her favourite story with her flash light to make her fall asleep. The young girl did appreciate their help for her to have a good night sleep she could not bring herself to fall asleep after the condition she saw her mother she tried to think about her favourite food and even tried to count sheep but none of it worked.

 _So, did you hear anything before I was in the office Aiden?_ Jodie had her eyes closed as she placed her hand behind her back as she waited for a response.

Aiden reiterated the information Susan explained to Nathan and Cole. He hovered just above her head when he was finished and could feel Jodie’s nervousness build up as she shook in her bed. 'Don't worry Jodie if the CIA can’t do their job and I ever come across this idiot who's been harming your mother I'll punch this man so hard his own soul would eject from his body!' he said reassuringly.

 _Aiden! How could you say that!_ The young girl immediately opened her eyes to frown at her companion.

'What! I'm not thinking about _bloody_ killing him, _despite_ what he did to your wonderful mother and your irritating dad! I remember Cole saying that a person from astral projection can’t die from a while back! I just want to beat the crap out of his pathetic soul until he realises how much of an idiot he's been then I'll proceed to knock some sense into his stupid ass of a brain once I find his dormant body!'

 _Watch your language Aiden!_ The young girl folded her arms at her otherworldly companion.

'Whatever!' Aiden mumbled to himself 'For all I know I could one million years old and lost my memory somehow, which caused me to forget how I lived my life.'

 _Even if that's the case Aiden I'm only nine years old and you shouldn't use words like that._ ‘I meant to say ass as in a donkey.' He said bitterly.

_I know you're lying Aiden! I can obviously sense your emotions!_

 

'I can’t help being who am I alright.’ Aiden hovered to the television at the end of the room while he asked. 'I wonder if he pretended to be me to make a horrid prank against your parents? I mean the guy is on the run after all. Since he managed to speak to them even without the need of a phone line that’s really weird.’

 

_I doubt that Aiden._

 

‘Girl I wish I was there to hear that conversation!' the entity hovered back to Jodie's bed. 'Nathan said that Susan should contact her husband for some stupid reason. I’m just glad he scared them away and didn’t hurt them.’

_I’m glad that you never wanted to strangle my dad when they had to leave me at the DPA I was so sad back then. So does that mean you forgave him now-?_

‘ _Hell! No! I wanted to literally strangle the excrement out of him!_ _And I still do!_ But I don’t understand how your mom is still blindly in love with that arrogant to-timing-jackass-’

_Hey! That’s my dad your talking about! I admit I never really liked him either since he tried to hurt me and thinks I’m lying but at least he doesn’t mind Mommy visiting me!_

‘ _I don’t give a rat’s ass about him!_ ’

_What? What does a rat’s butt have to do with anything?_

‘It’s a figure of speech Jodie. It means-you know what just forget that I said that alright?’ Aiden hovered above Jodie bed. ‘ _I wonder if the_ CIA would beat the crap out of this impersonator like Neo finally does in in _The Matrix_ movie. I'm so glad I got to watch the whole movie at the DPA.'

 _Yeah while I had school!_ Jodie narrowed her eyes briefly before she closed them once more.

'That was the best day ever _and_ you could have watched it with me!'

_I had that annoy science teacher the one who never stops talking._

'Oh yeah good times.' Aiden chuckled which only angered Jodie. 'No the CIA should kick his butt like they do in the _Ghostbusters_ movie that would be so awesome! I'd totally kick some butt with the CIA and _Ghostbusters_!'

_But why? Even if you could travel further away from me you're a ghost too Aiden you'll get sucked into their supernatural vacuum cleaner-_

'It's _not_ a vacuum cleaner!' Aiden frantically flew in the air above Jodie in a protest.

Jodie lazily rolled her eyes. _Aiden I really don’t care what it’s called-_

'It's a proton pack that was referred to as an unlicensed nuclear accelerator in one of the scenes-'

_That's sound's really dangerous if it was real Aiden._

'But it's extremely cool you _have_ to admit!'

Jodie stifled her laughter and couldn't help but agree with him. _But I wouldn't want to lose you._

'Please! With the cord that attaches us I wouldn't go anywhere!' Jodie smiled happily at the thought and allowed Aiden to continue to talk 'I've watched that movie a million times anyway, it would be super cool if they actually found a way to make them in real life think about it, you could help me get rid of the monsters and kick but we'd be like an unstoppable force of nature and we can help other kids like you and get paid by the hour!' Aiden said with extreme excitement.

 _You're so strange Aiden I'd think I'd be too young to work._ Jodie smiled.

'Well then Cole and Nathan should have that as their part time job train you when they think your old enough to get paid then we can start our jobs to save anyone who needs our help.'

 _You really are ironic Aiden!-_ The door suddenly creaked open and Jodie used her powers to see from Aiden's view point while she pretended to be asleep, form Aiden's view point she saw Susan enter the room with BunnyGruff cradled in her right arm. He inspected her closer and saw that she looked slightly better but still seemed physically drained which worried the both of them, he was relieved that her socks and trousers were dry. The woman quietly closed the door behind herself before she slowly crept toward Jodie and placed her stuff rabbit beside her head.

"Jodie." Susan whispered to Jodie and tapped her shoulders slightly.

Jodie pretended to yawn then rubbed her eyes. "Y-yes Mommy?"

"I'm spending the night in your apartment-"

Thwack! Jodie sat up so quickly with excitement that she accidently bumped her head into her mother's jaw mother which made both shout in pain.

 _Shit that fucking hurt._ Susan screamed internally

"I'm _so_ sorry Mommy!" Jodie immediately held onto her mother's hands which allowed Aiden to heal her quickly before he attended to Jodie's head.

"Sweetheart it's alright!" Susan laughed despite the pain she endured. "I'm ok!" which made Jodie laugh and they soon hugged one another.

Jodie couldn't help but apologise several times over when they laughed until she decided to ask. "Is it because of the man who's pretended to be Aiden and has been following you and daddy?"

"Yeah but don't worry about that situation anymore Sweetheart everything been sorted out."

"You are brave Mommy."

"Thanks. You are too." _Nathan made the right choice._ She smiled to herself then clasped her hands inquisitively. "Anyway there's the Science Museum we have to get ready for soon."

"Oh yeah!" Jodie's eyes lit up. "When will we go?"

"I'm off work next week on Wednesday."

"That's a week and three days from now."

"That's right." Susan smirked went around the other side of the bed.

Jodie jumped out of bed and looked at the small pink digital clock in her room. "Aww. It's too late now it's eleven o'clock I have to go to school tomorrow and you might have work tomorrow too." Jodie sulked.

Susan knelt on the other side of the bed then deeply sighed. "Well technically I do have _work_ tomorrow." Jodie looked despondent to her mother. "But…" she placed her finger on her mouth and looked up in the sky. "I did call in sick so I need to see how my room is but that doesn’t mean me can’t hang out later tomorrow." Jodie smiled at her mother's words she was glad that she could at least rest for today "And Cole and Nathan also agree that you should also have a day off school tomorrow too-" Susan was cut off when Jodie rushed to her and squeezed her tightly.

"Yes! Yay! Thank you, Mommy." Jodie did not ask why then immediately rummaged under her bed and took out lots of story books and games from under her bed for them to play into the late hours of the night which Susan didn't mind.

* * *

Phillip ignored his mobile phone that went off several times in his car as the adrenaline helped him on his journey to travelled to his work friend's home on foot, which was a few miles from where he lived.

" _Open up Truman!_ " Phillip bellowed while he banged furiously on his friend’s door he didn't care if he woke up the other neighbours on the street when he heard footsteps approaching the door he concentrated to get his breath back as he leaned on the wall beside the door.

Truman opened the door for him. Truman had ash-grey eyes, shoulder length brown hair, tanned skin and has a masculine build he wore simple brown pyjamas and blue bedroom slippers he was slighter shorter than Phillip.

"Phillip? What happened to you?" Truman inquired.

"Jodie. That's what happened." Phillip spoke in a monotone voice.

"Aww. How is she? I haven’t seen her since she was seven years old." Truman couldn't help but smile he hoped that the reunion between the Holmes family would be good although the glare Phillip gave him made him wipe the smile of his face. "Gosh! I was only asking." Truman escorted Phillip into his large open plan home. “You’re the one knocking on my door on a Sunday at 10:30pm in the night. I have to work tomorrow.”

"I’m sorry Truman." Phillip wiped his shoes on the mat before he went inside, " _Jodie's_ causing havoc as usual in our home." he emphasized the hatred when he mentioned Jodie's name which made Truman upset.

"Oh, it's nice to see you to finally bringing your foster daughter home." Truman felt relieved as he locked his front door while Phillip sat on the large purple couch in the living room.

" _Susan_ brought her to our new home." Phillip clenched his fists tightly.

"Oh." Truman sighed unhappily to himself briefly as he sat next to his friend. "Sorry to hear that."

"No need to apologize." He leaned forward into the chair. "Look I know this is a last minute but I'm begging you let me stay in your home for one night only, please I'm begging-"

"Sure. No problem. Although telling me in _advance_ next time would be nice." Truman's became slightly annoyed. “You’re luckily that I was about to go to sleep in my room.”

"Sorry, it's just Jodie's outburst was serious this time."

"How serious?" he folded his arms and gave Phillip a stern look.

"She managed to possess the entire downstairs, she made all the electrical appliances come on and even made the light bulbs crack in the house."

"Shit."

"Tell me about it.

"Her temper tantrum is too much to handle."

"What was she angry about?"

"I don't fucking care."

"Come she can’t be angry for no reason." Truman frowned at his friend.

Phillip's rant only made his friend more irritated he decided to relax in the couch to ease his nerves. "Look whatever she's angry about she always blames her imaginary friend."

"You _mean_ her powers."

"Exactly. I'm not in the mood to listen to her lying to me all the time."

"And Susan still believes her?"

"Of course she does."

"How is she by the way?"

"We had had a huge argument tonight and I am _not_ in the mood to talk about it."

"Was Jodie in the same room as you?"

"Truman. Please not now." Phillip sank his back into the chair then rubbed his hands with his forehead.

"Sorry. But I have to ask in case one of your family members calls."

"Her tantrum was like being in a horror movie expect the door wasn't typically jammed."

"No." Truman shook his head confidently. "In horror movies I swear the car never starts properly when you're trying to escape from danger."

"Susan knows the danger and consequences of bringing that…" Phillip took a deep breath. " _Little girl_ to our home. And there was some crazy guy on the phone rambling on about stuff."

"So how's your brother?" Phillip said in a monotone voice.

Truman grabbed his house phone beside the table and placed the phone beside Phillip. "Hey. Look. I think it's best you tell Susan where you are now, knowing her she's worried sick about you. Don't make her think something bad has happened."

Phillip stayed silent and then nodded. He briefly he grabbed the house phone.

"Good." Truman smiled. "You're _really_ luckily to have someone like her you know, make sure she's alright."

He sighed deeply before he answered. "I will. Thanks."

"You're going to have to crash on my couch if that's alright with you for tonight."

"Yeah."

"My spare bedrooms are full of a lot of my brother art stuff. He's finally moving out my house for good moving up in life."

"That's good, but I thought your brother worked at the DPA."

"He does but he's also an artist."

"Ah."

Truman clapped his hands together. "Well I'm of to bed now Phillip. You know where everything is in the house just make yourself at home and _don't_ forget about the phone call. Promise?" he pointed at Phillip.

"I Promise." Phillip gave Truman a genuine smile

"At a boy." Truman closed the living room door behind him which led to the passageway to the upstairs of his house.

Phillip texted his wife to say that he was alright and where he was stayed. A few minutes later he gets a call from a private number and immediately picked up.

“Susan is that you? Are you alright Sweetheart?”

“We weren’t done with our conversation.” The mysterious man spoke in a nonchalant tone of voice.

“Or great this asshole again?! Are you one of Susan’s ex-boyfriend with or something?”

“They call me “Xavier Knight” _asshole_.”

“I can say the _same_ about you-”

“Watch what you _say_ about that little girl-”

“Fuck off. Mind your own business.” Phillip hangs up the phone “I can’t stand these stupid people with powers. It better not be one of Susan’s overprotective friends.” Phillip “Why the fuck did she had to tell this dumbass everything?”

“Or I’ll take matters into my own hands.” Phillip sat up in a fright when he heard Xavier Knight’s voice behind him but when he spun around he saw no one there.

“ _What the?_ ” Phillip breathed heavily as he looked outside the front windows but saw no one there. “ _This asshole either has probably has teleportation powers or is a telepath. He’s probably a telepath._ ” He whispered loudly to himself got himself ready to sleep before he watched the television before he dozed off on his friend’s couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghostbusters is directed by Ivan Reitman.  
> The Matrix is directed by Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski.


End file.
